Hear enough productivity experts, and you'll be simple to convince yourself that napping is a secret weapon: rather than a band-aid following restless night, but a route towards a better memory, better spirits and maybe improved athletic performance. Premier League soccer players do it regularly – along with professional piano players, mixed martial artists and business leaders. But if you lack a dedicated nap-room or a job that allows frequent naps, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the effort? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you really guarantee you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Understanding The Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three primary motivations for daytime sleep among most adults,” notes a leading sleep science specialist. “One is known as recovery napping, that is the action you take following poor sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, where you are pre-empting a sleep deficit in the future, for instance if you’re working overnight shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to desire: you get an opportunity to sleep in the daytime, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to do, therefore, is to think about why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted due to causes outside your control – for example, for caring for an infant, or recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping because your night sleep seems unreliable or broken, that can be an indicator your sleep drive is not where it should be. In those cases, naps can become part of the problem, not the solution. Use napping as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the priority must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This means that napping ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your sleep at night, and preferably are not recommended in the late afternoon (based on the time you go to bed at night). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. From the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa found that space travelers showed up to a 54% increase in alertness plus a 34% rise in performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this included an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority fall asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a specialist. “There’s a lot of recommendations regarding the optimal amount for sleeping, but that tends to make people feel more worried than anything – and the worst thing one can do when trying to nod off is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Studies suggests it's more effective to have a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” says the professor. “45 minutes is sufficient to plunge you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – whereas if you extend it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more alert. However, if you nap for an hour and a half, it will affect how you sleep that night.”
Establishing the Perfect Snooze Setting
When it comes to exact methodologies, recommendations vary. Certain specialists recommend employing similar routines you’d use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and minimal light as is feasible. Others suggest that you should simply nap on a couch with ambient lighting is present – to avoid that groggy feeling and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the space your brain links with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to command,” notes an expert. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to recline and essentially instruct yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination present to start the process in the first place. Personally, I can often take a nap during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, but what helps a lot of people is to wait for a time where they feel naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and should your choices are limited – such as, when aiming to fit in 40 winks on a train or at the office – it's acceptable to use sleep aids. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
